CENTRE — County Administrator Tim Burgess said the county's 2013 budget, recently approved by the Cherokee County Commission, is “bare bones” and reflects only a slight amount of economic growth, if any, over the previous year.

In an attempt to shore up reserve funds, the new budget is actually leaner by $1.3 million compared to FY 2012.

“One reason is to try and build our reserve back up,” Burgess said. “In previous years as revenues remained flat and costs went up, we had to dip into that reserve to maintain basic services. We need the reserve to be healthy again.”

Burgess said the county's flat revenues showed little signs of improving over the past 12 months. But he said that fact shouldn’t be viewed in a negative light, necessarily.

“Our economic situation in Cherokee County … is relatively flat, which in a bad economic downturn is not a bad thing,” Burgess said.

Burgess said there was no room in the new $18.6 million budget to give county employees a pay raise.

“Most of the departments are level-funded over the previous year,” Burgess said. “Our employees are doing a good job, and they deserve more. But right now the county doesn't have the funds to give a cost-of-living adjustment.”

Burgess said the commissioners will continue to fund salaries at last year’s levels, which were supplemented by tobacco tax revenues.

Burgess said the only notable increase in any department funding in FY 2013 is for the probate judge’s office.

“We are going to contract with someone to digitize all the county's legal files,” Burgess said. “It’s something we have to do.”

Burgess said when the process is completed in a year or more, all the county’s deeds, titles, mortgages and marriage licenses, will be accessible via the Internet.

Otherwise, Burgess said, the new budget is very similar to FY 2012.

“We didn’t make wholesale changes and we didn’t cut any services,” he said. “If you look at the overview, it is personnel, benefits, utilities, insurance, and things we need such as office supplies to run the departments.”

Burgess said one holdover from last year is the Code Red weather warning system.

“That costs the county $10,000, but it’s a good service for our residents,” Burgess said.

Burgess said one item commissioners will likely have to wrestle with for years to come is how to properly fund the county jail, which has seen its inmate population nearly double in recent years.

“Financially, we’re set up to run an 80 to 85 inmate jail, and we've been averaging 140 inmates,” Burgess said. “I shudder to think what the costs will be a couple of years from now.”

Burgess said the county recently paid off a highway paving bond from a decade ago that freed up $432,000 in annual payments. Burgess said commissioners will redirect those funds to the jail.

“Because of the jail population and increased costs, I asked the county to … transfer what they were paying on that bond to help ease the jail funding problem,” Burgess said.

Burgess said county officials and Sheriff Jeff Shaver are working to find additional solutions to the inmate overcrowding problem.

An example, Burgess said, is to allow someone picked up on Friday for an outstanding warrant for an unpaid traffic ticket to bond out immediately instead of spending the weekend behind bars.

Overall, Burgess said, the economic news for Cherokee County isn’t nearly as bad as in a lot of other places.

“Sales tax this past year, it did increase, but just slightly,” Burgess said. “That’s telling me that we are remaining steady, and a lot of places can’t say that. We’re maintaining, hoping that we have some growth in the future.”